


White Eyes of Familiarity Vanish with a Shock

by ARSONjST



Series: The Clairvoyant and The Illusionist [4]
Category: Dream SMP - Fandom, Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Angels, Dream (mentioned) - Freeform, Fantasy AU, Kidnapping, Nihachu (Mentioned) - Freeform, Not Beta Read, Philza (Mentioned) - Freeform, We die like Tubbo in the Festival (and Wilbur in the finale), Wilbur Soot (Mentioned) - Freeform, but vaguely, fae, futuristic AU, tubbo has a lot of thinking to do
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,766
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27662294
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ARSONjST/pseuds/ARSONjST
Summary: Tubbo can’t fall asleep so he reminisces, first alone, with a new friend, and then alone again.He really really misses home, he misses Philza, he misses Wilbur, he misses Techno, he misses Niki.He misses himself, too.
Relationships: No Romantic Relationship(s)
Series: The Clairvoyant and The Illusionist [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2013421
Comments: 5
Kudos: 143





	White Eyes of Familiarity Vanish with a Shock

There was a chill in the air that made the younger boy shiver. He tugged the blankets closer to himself as he cracked his eyes open. The fire that had been made to help heat the house was now gone, he huffs and lets his bare feet touch the almost icy wooden floors. Philza had told him to wear socks while outside sparring, he hadn't listened, and now he was stuck with no socks.

He shakes his head and gets up, grabbing the blanket off his bed and wrapping it around himself as he flicks on a small hand-held lamp. He walks over to where the extra logs should be but when he pulls back the cover to grab some, there's nothing there. Huffing he sets the cover and the lamp down and looks back. Tommy is sprawled across his bed, snoring mutely with his mouth open. He wasn’t going to fall asleep without taking a quick walk around, so Tubbo walked out of his room and stumbled into the expansive halls. Yawning, he held the long blanket around himself he walked up a window. The frost on the outside of the window made it easier for him to see his own reflection and as he paused in the hall, black pants, a white shirt, and a blue blanket draped over his shoulders...

_He looked like Technoblade._

He can't stop staring until he hears soft humming travel down the halls. The voice is deep and reminds him of the aforementioned brother. He immediately takes off towards the noise, letting his bare feet rub against the soft red carpet. Glancing down the halls at every intersection he eventually makes his way onto a balcony where he sees Eret standing. Tubbo's eyes widen at the sight of two beautiful white wings glistening in the pale moonlight. Eret hums a song softly, gazing up at the sky with hazy eyes.

"Woah..." He whispers, stepping a bit closer.

Eret whips around suddenly, yanking his wings closed before he notices the teenager looking up at him. He breathes in as he exclaims, "T-Tubbo!"

"Liege... you have very pretty wings." Tubbo whispers, "Tommy told me it's dangerous to show wings, so don't worry, I won't tell."

Eret sighs as he blinks and looks away, taking off his sunglasses and rubbing them on his shirt, "why are you still awake, Tubbo?"

"I was cold... and I couldn't fall asleep." Tubbo shrugs, sitting down on the balcony's floor. Eret sighs and tucks his wings in before he sits down next to Tubbo and looks at him with glowing white eyes.

"I couldn't either," Eret admits, looking away at the moon and the stars. His eyes glow a pale white color Tubbo knows all too well. He looks over curiously and Eret senses the younger boy staring at him. He glances over with a curious look and Tubbo looks away, cheeks red from being caught staring.

“I… Philza’s eyes glowed white when he used magic, so did Niki’s. Are you using magic right now, King Eret?” The boy shuffles his legs closer to himself to stay warm, out of instinct Eret moves his wing to wrap around the young boy and pulls him closer to himself.

“Yeah, I have a magical link as her guard and I can, uhm. I can feel her pain and help her heal. She’s hurt right now, I’m sure you could infer that, so I have to help her heal. I have to stay awake while I do it though. Which is why I’m still awake so late.” Eret looks away from Tubbo, back out towards the city he loves, and rules over gently.

“I can sit with you so it’s not so lonely, King Eret,” Tubbo says, yawning as the warm wing cocoons him and reminds him of late nights on the couch watching movies with Philza. It almost brings tears to his eyes, but he blinks them away.

“Sure kiddo.” Eret grins, leaning back and continuing to hum the same song in a low tone that lulls the younger boy to sleep in only a few warm minutes.

The azaleas felt softer than any blanket Eret had given him in the past six months living in this castle. Though it was rare for Eret to let the boys outside, Tubbo enjoyed following the bees from flower to flower and feeling the sweet-smelling winds drift across him as he lays in the still dewy grass. His eyes close against the sun, leaving him seeing a comforting shade of red.

Living with Eret had been fun, it had been stressless. Eret had a maid who would wake the boys at exactly 5 am sharp. The schedule was so consistent that Tubbo could wake up before the cinnamon smelling woman shook his shoulder with a soft ‘good morning, dear.’ At 6 am, the boys would be dressed and ready to eat breakfast. Tubbo and Tommy always sat in two chairs across from the windows so they could look out and admire the beautiful sunrises. By 8 am they had to be in the library so they could do schoolwork until noon. Then, Eret would let them relax until 3 pm, which is when they’d spar. The sparring times always varied, sometimes it would be until dinner, sometimes they worked through dinner. They learned all different types of fighting and they worked as hard as they could because they wanted to be perfect. 

Eret always promised as soon as they were perfect, they’d get to go home.

_They wanted to be perfect._

Though, it always hurt waking up in the mornings without hearing a slow lull from a handmade mahogany guitar. They never got to sleep in past five or smell the eggs as they scrambled, or the sausage as it sizzled in the pan. They woke up to cinnamon instead of pine sap and honey, a hand from a small woman instead of a hand from a tall man. They sparred with knights in training instead of their brothers and father.

It hurt Tommy the most, he had connected to Wilbur and Techno much faster than Tubbo had. Tubbo still missed them just as much, and he’d admit it while Tommy wouldn’t. Tubbo knew Tommy missed them, but he never said anything because he didn’t like to talk about it.

A new thing with living in the castle had been the restrictions. They weren’t allowed to tell anyone their real names, or ages. They weren’t allowed outside unless Eret said they could, and whenever the man with the blue beanie and the guy with the ram horns came, they had to hide. Tubbo didn’t mind all the new rules, because they kept the ones from Philza too, like not chewing with your mouth open, asking to be excused from the table, always helping clean up after you eat, and cleaning up after themselves even when they really didn’t want to.

The past six months had been an odd mix of pain and joy, misery and excitement, longing and belonging.

Tubbo could feel something small land on his nose, opening his eyes he saw a baby bumblebee resting on him. He grins and shut his eyes again. These gardens had been his escape from a world that hurt, a world that stole parents and siblings not once, but twice. A world that Tubbo was sure hated him.

There was a rustle behind him, a noise that Tubbo would usually excuse to being Fundy, the thief they had met their first day in the town, who was now forced to work under Eret as punishment for his small crimes. The fox-boy was always trying to sneak up on him. But when the bee flew away and the sun disappeared, he creaked open his eyes to see something he wasn’t expecting. A white mask with a crudely painted smiley face, Tubbo screamed in shock, sitting up and crawling to his feet before turning back to face the newcomer. As he raked his brain for who it could be, he recognized the mask as being from one of the guards they had met on the first day they’d stepped within the castle's walls. The newcomer wore a state uniform, no longer wearing the guards uniform. As Tubbo’s eyes glanced down the blue uniform he was so used to seeing on his pink-haired brother, his muscles locked up and his breath seized. He collapsed to the ground gasping for air as he felt a pain much greater than anything he’d ever felt. The lack of oxygen made it impossible to scream as the masked man grabbed him and tossed him over his shoulder. Tubbo’s eyes focused on a red bandana left behind on the grass, it was one Tommy had given him when he first moved into his house. He just prayed Tommy would come by before the bandana was stolen by a certain fox. 

Tommy knew Tubbo would never miss sparring, he loved to go back and forth with Tommy as the two battled over who was the better fighter. So when Tubbo didn’t show, he was reasonably worried. He ran through the expansive gardens as it started to drizzle, assuming his friend had fallen asleep while laying in the grass. But his eyes froze at the sight of the red bandana, and he instinctively grabbed the green one he had tied to the belt loop of his jeans. He dropped down and grabbed it, rubbing his hands along the edges that were black from being singed. He heard footsteps behind him and that's when Tommy could feel the mud soaking into his jeans.

“Tommy, what's wrong?” Eret’s deep voice spoke, kneeling next to the boy, His white eyes focused on the bandana and he let out a soft breath, turning to a guard who was behind the two.

“Send out a search party, now. I don’t care who you have to grab, find him!” Eret shouts, his voice booming and echoing across the field and he grabbed Tommy and yanked him to his feet and inside the castle.

Tommy stayed awake all night, his hands rubbing the red fabric as he sat in silence. Eret would never admit how much it hurt to see the usually lively boy so silent. At ten in the morning, the following day, the head guard declared Tubbo missing.

And every single person who worked for the state knew, even a missing brother, who fought with the power of thousands of gods, who bit his lip and tugged his tusked mask down to hide the tears on his face.


End file.
